Open Letter: 200+ Trans Women and Transfeminine People Stand Against Calpernia Addams and Andrea James

We, the undersigned trans women and trans-feminine individuals, are appalled at recent attacks on trans woman journalist Parker Marie Molloy published by Calpernia Addams and Andrea James on the Huffington Post and Boing Boing. Addams’ and James’ hit pieces exhibit a pervasive hostility to young, queer trans women, and indeed any trans woman who is uncomfortable with the use of transmisogynist slurs by cisgender drag queens like RuPaul. They display homophobia, transphobia, ignorance, dishonesty, and hatred throughout.

We believe that these pieces should not have been published, and that they are not representative of the views of trans women as a community. Calpernia Addams and Andrea James do not speak for us.

1. Absence of good-faith arguments

James variously describes trans women who take issue with RuPaul as “hecklers”, “shut-ins” who “spend their waking lives online”, “victim cultists”, “self-haters” engaging in “attention-seeking behavior”, “elitists”, “the language police”, “finger-wagging schoolmarms”, “fucking stay-at-home transactivists”, and “trans separatists” with “internalized transphobia” who “transition from male to female with the zeal of a religious convert.” Unlike James, we do not believe that objecting to transmisogynist slurs makes someone any of these things. We also find it doubtful that James genuinely seeks to “resolve this dispute like professional journalists”, as her column exhibits very little sense of professionalism at all. If, as James says, “experienced activists seek to build bridges and establish empathy”, we are skeptical of her experience.

2. Misleading personal attacks

Addams and James have chosen to focus on an individual trans woman and personally attack her at length. In doing so, they give the impression that opposing the use of transmisogynist slurs by cisgender drag performers is an isolated and marginal position held by, as Addams puts it, “nutty trans hacktivists”. In reality, the conduct of RuPaul and others has been widely criticized by vast swathes of trans women. This is not a new critique that has only arisen due to a lack of experience among young queer trans women. It is a long-standing and well-supported objection, one which has been articulated by trans women of all ages and sexualities. Addams and James ignore this in favor of needlessly inflammatory rhetoric, a regressive defense of gay and lesbian transphobia, and unmitigated contempt for the gender and sexuality of queer trans women. Their columns do not contribute to this discussion in any meaningful way.

3. Traditionalism and ageism

We reject Addams’ portrayal of young trans women like Molloy as “newcomer[s] to transition and lesbian/trans issues”, a description which suggests young trans women are less informed, less competent, and less qualified to argue their viewpoints on these topics. To the contrary, young trans women can offer a fresh and contemporary perspective to balance the traditional and stagnant views of those like Addams and James. Whatever decades of experience with trans issues that Addams and James have had, it has not served them well in these recent columns.

4. Misgendering and accusations of “privilege”

We find it completely unacceptable that Addams would accuse queer trans women of being “conditioned to bully and take by a lifetime of white, heterosexual, male privilege”, using “the gains and habits of this privilege”, and having “lingering ‘cis-het privilege.’” It is baffling and incomprehensible to imply that an out queer trans woman is somehow capable of wielding heterosexual, cisgender, male privilege to her advantage. This isn’t a new tactic – it is commonly used by transphobes to misgender trans women and dismiss anything we say as coming from a place of supposed “maleness”. Here, Addams has done exactly that. This is not a meaningful argument; it is only more of the same classic transmisogyny.

5. False hierarchies of trans women

We oppose Addams’ and James’ oversimplification of queer trans women’s sexualities, unique personal histories, intersectional experiences, and self-understandings. Addams describes her own “feminine and soft nature” and experiences of being “rejected from participating in heteronormative culture”, while claiming that queer trans women “presumably lived most of their lives with the tacit approval and support of a society that viewed them as heterosexual, white men”. Her presumption is unwarranted, as is James’ description of these women as “newly-minted queers”.

If a trans woman is attracted to women, this does not mean that she always lacked a “feminine and soft nature” (whatever Addams thinks this means), that her sexuality was never called into question by others, that she was not “a participant in LGBT culture”, or that she was never attracted to men. Many queer trans women who are attracted to women share these experiences – their queerness is not “newly-minted” by any stretch of the imagination. Addams’ and James’ false dichotomy uncomfortably echoes the long history of straight trans women being judged as more legitimate in their womanhood and more “feminine” than queer trans women. This constitutes the same kind of implicit misgendering as Addams’ claim that queer trans women possess “lingering” privilege, while Addams herself supposedly does not.

6. Hypocrisy and feigned offense

While any use of “drag queen” to deny or delegitimize a trans woman’s gender is obviously unacceptable, we decry James’ hypocrisy in taking offense to the accurate description of Addams’ history as a drag performer. James herself notes that trans women have a history of “working alongside drag performers”, and that there “was no separation of drag and trans” in “pre-Stonewall Manhattan LGBT social life”, but then claims that “drag queen” is a “transphobic slur” when referring to Addams’ involvement in drag performance. This is, at a minimum, inconsistent. It is absurd that James would denounce this accurate statement of fact as “transphobic”, while she and Addams promote false generalizations about queer trans women and implicitly misgender them with accusations of “male privilege”. We particularly note the hypocrisy of Addams’ call to defend “trans people who choose to… associate with gay and lesbian people”, given her own hostility toward queer trans women.

7. Siding with mainstream prejudice

Contrary to James, we do not accept that drag performance is itself a valid excuse for cisgender people to use transmisogynist slurs. James believes that “taboos around language” – language such as “shemale” – are “practically begging drag queens and kings to violate these taboos”, and that drag is an “art form with countercultural subversion at its heart”. Such a rationale is nonsensical. When a word becomes so closely associated with open hostility toward a marginalized group that it is widely considered a slur by the group it targets, this is not itself a justification to continue using this word. It is rather obviously a compelling reason not to use it.

Cis people using transmisogynist slurs are not violating a taboo when the use of such slurs is already broadly accepted among cis people. Most of society does not consider it taboo to refer to trans women in these terms – there is no taboo to break. Repeating a one-word distillation of a culture’s hostility to trans women is neither countercultural nor subversive. It is mainstream. In light of this, James’ commitment to “siding with offensive artists” is hardly a laudable choice.

8. Disingenuous conflation of “transgender” with drag

We reject James’ classification of RuPaul as transgender, as well as any implication that cisgender male drag queens are therefore entitled to use transmisogynist slurs. Cisgender male drag queens are assigned male at birth, and they neither consider themselves to be women nor live as women in their everyday lives. Unlike trans women, they are not the ones who regularly face the consequences of widespread transphobia and transmisogyny, and they are not confronted with the fallout of normalizing transmisogynist slurs. Likewise, Addams’ statement that she “hate[s] the term ‘cisgender’” shows a lack of understanding of the importance of this distinction.

9. Hiding behind “homophobia” to defend transphobia

We further reject Addams’ argument that trans women’s criticism of the use of transmisogynist slurs by cisgender drag performers is a form of “homophobia” or “hatred or derision for gay and lesbian culture”. Trans women’s objections to transphobia do not become any less legitimate when that transphobia comes from “gay and lesbian culture”. This transphobia is no more excusable – it is equally deserving of scrutiny. While Addams recognizes that “being trans is not a free pass to be transphobic or homophobic”, she appears to believe that being gay or lesbian is indeed a free pass to be transphobic. We do not share this belief.

10. Elitism and exclusion of queer trans women from queer culture

Addams attacks trans women who object to RuPaul’s slurs as “hate-filled, angry and inexperienced folks” who “hop the fence at this late stage and try to dictate our culture rather than learn and build and participate in it”. We believe that trans women have every reason to be angry at the mass media legitimization of transmisogynist slurs by cisgender men, and we question the value of learning from this culture or participating in it, let alone building upon it. It is no point of pride to tolerate a transphobic culture. Accusing young queer trans women of trying to “dictate our culture” implies that they have less of a claim to gay and lesbian culture than Addams, and lazily dismisses legitimate objections to the harms of this culture and the attitudes it has normalized.

Our aims

We ask that Calpernia Addams and Andrea James refrain from publishing further columns exhibiting this variety of homophobia, transphobia, transmisogyny, misgendering, ageism, and unwarranted hostility toward other trans women. We further ask that Huffington Post, Boing Boing, and other outlets refuse to give a platform to any columns endorsing such prejudice, whether by Addams and James or by others. As Addams notes, “you choose your community’s voices and heroes.” We reject Calpernia Addams and Andrea James as voices of our community.

Cadence Valentine, board member of Transgender Leadership Council, co-chair and lead organizer of Transgender Leadership Summit, Program Coordinator for Transsafetycounts, secretary of Transgender Service Providers Network

Johanna Wolf, game developer

Alexandra Robin Clodge, software engineer/activist

Juli-Ann Richmond, Kind Hearted House Sitting, pet and plant services

Abby Malson, software developer, transgender woman

Allison Lara Keene, software developer

Janet Logan, software engineer and transgender woman

Katherine Norcross, molecular biologist and artist

Alison Edwards, writer and educator

Rachel Determann, musician, data journalist and engineer

Nicole “Nicky” Roberts, activist, 2013 JCF grantee

Jamie M. Kerrigan, Sales Associate

Kara Johnson, animal rights activist

Inga Hensing, Research Analyst

Margaret Laughlan, Residential Social Worker

Harper Sylvia Sanford, software QA

Victoria Solís Quintillá, student, activist

Alexandra Pitchford, writer, game designer

Skyla Marchel, activist

Ashley Wells, library technician and artist

Zoey Bartlett, research chemist and legal activist

Gemma Seymour, Sorciére Itinérant, Writer, and Activist

Jennifer Mason

Donna Levinsohn, attorney and activist

Elizabeth Flanagan, Trans/Geek Feminist

Madison Rae, HIV Outreach Educator of the Transaction program

Kelley Sullivan, Sales Representative

Nina Yorty, freelance caregiver

Tommilynn Janelle Travis, Customer Support and Sales

Jessica Ottowell, software engineer, small business owner, PR officer for the British Liberal Democrat party

Are y’all done throwing hand grenades at each other for a moment? If so, I’d be delighted to fill the roaring silence with a personal observation:

The cis-gender world has us right where they want us, fighting like crazed wolverines among each other. Good job, everybody. I’m beginning to think that NO ONE in the trans community likes each other, based mostly upon definitions split finer than a human hair and personal distaste for one another’s appearance.

So much for unconditional acceptance. So much for diversity. So much for “united we stand”, even.

This is why we will never be included in any ENDA bill that includes trans* folk. This is why we will never attain anything resembling equal rights. This is why our suicide rate is so damned high. This is why so many of us stay at home, out of the public eye unless we absolutely HAVE to emerge and then only furtively, like a criminal.

We despise each other. Worse, we’ve allowed cis-gender standards to dominate the conversation. Conversation? WHAT am I saying? Everything! Speech, appearance, behavior, employment, political positions; you name it, the privileged have an iron grip on this “community” and it would seem that most of y’all don’t mind a bit.

Personally, I’m with Emily, the new transitioner, even though I’ve been at this for over seven years. I stay at home. I don’t go out. I attend LGBT functions very rarely and only if there’s a quiet corner and an escape hatch.

It’s too much, people. It’s too much just being me in a world where easily a third of the population would love to see me swinging at the end of a rope. It’s too much to witness vicious arguments and empty posturing and truly astonishing rage among those who are supposed to be at least nominally supportive of all trans* people. It’s too much to see us tear each other apart, doing exactly what our true adversaries want us to do. It’s too much to know that I have to distrust and keep my guard up around someone who is experiencing much the same difficulties as myself.

So, like Emily (see above), I’m outa here. Consider me gone. I signed up for a war with the bad guys; the conservatives and the religious nuts and the nasty bigots and the flamin’ cis- hypocrites, not my own people.

I didn’t sign up for a Civil War. And I won’t fight any of you, for any reason, anywhere, at any time.

Take your best shot, but don’t expect me to linger in this smoking wasteland.

You can add my name to the list. Penny Marie Sautereau, Writer, Activist

Dee Omally

Calpernia Addams and Andrea James, I hold are wrong on this one, however I extend forgiveness. To write them off as irrelevant would be a huge mistake. It would be an honor one day to meet them, given the many positive contributions to the trans community. To remain in anger is easy. To extend forgiveness is not.

As performers who did begin with drag (no offense…drag is beautiful), it thrills me to see their success, and to follow their trans history, even at times riddled with pain which is part of anyone’s trans journey. As performers, they are joined at the hip with Hollywood and I can imagine the choice before them: stand for Hollywood & the Drag Race disaster or turn their back on H/wood and stand wholly for the trans community.

All of us are capable of exhibiting strong emotion, even rage, let’s not kid ourselves…it is a human characteristic that has deprived many of their future through incarceration or loss of life. Parker Malloy is a beautiful person in body and intelligence and faced with, like the rest of us, overt public trans disparagement from someone within our very own LGBT community, who should have known better, stated “I fucking hate RuPaul”.

Many took fervent issue with Parker’s utterance. I did not and still don’t. Why? Because it was stated within the context of self-defense, given RuPaul’s egregious conduct and recalcitrance. Had Parker tweeted her message “just because” without the current context, she would be deserving of severe admonishment. We all know, however that chronologically it followed public trans hate speech, under the guise of “entertainment”, which of course came at the trans community’s expense. Any doubts that it didn’t rise to the level of “hate speech” were erased once the clusterfuck video was released with a message advocating for trans murder/violence. It serves as proof that Parker’s rage was not only spot-on but fell short. That video is so shockingly vile that it immediately rendered as inert any prior justification for attacking Parker’s “I hate RuPaul” tweet.

I still love Calpernia and Andrea, and always will. Parker Malloy is academically brilliant as well and as someone who is never awed by Hollywood (hey I grew up without TV!), fame or riches, I am awed by those who exhibit courage, which I am blessed to possess in abundance. Perhaps it is an adrenaline rush or not, but my personal journey has taken me through paths not survived by many others, and I pray that they rest in peace.

Calpernia and Andrea, I know I speak for others in saying “we love you”. To say that one wrong (I know you disagree) defines your legacy is to say that one of our wrongs (we all have them of course) defines ours. I understand that your public commentary reflected much more than personal viewpoint….for the reasons I have already mentioned. You are one of us and we are one of you….females or males with a trans history, drag or not.

Emily

Hi, I’m a new transitioner. I just barely started living full time as a woman in the world and I’ve always wanted to meet other Trans* people and find some friends who are experiencing the same things I am.

… but the more and more I read and get closer to the Trans* community, the more I see stuff like this, I’m completely turned off from wanting to make contact IRL with y’all. Thanks but no thanks, transpeople. I suppose I’ll go it alone.

Dee Omally

I can relate. I don’t have any trans friends either, go to any support groups and for that matter I have absolutely no faith in an trans “heroes” or trans groups of any kind. This didn’t come about for no reason. I figured that if they can’t be their to challenge a job loss/trans discrimination, then their worth is two clicks left of zero.

I refuse though to be come hateful or angry…it’s not my nature. Still, I defend the right to transition because this doesn’t make me any less “trans”…although F on my ID now….and all the hate that comes at us especially when filled with lies.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Journalism-Journalism is a method of inquiry and literary style that aims to provide a service to the public by the dissemination and analysis of news and other information.

Often minority communities are torn. They are full of people who are oppressed, angry and bitter from that oppression. It’s a matter of social history that often the oppressed ,their rage once freed, become the oppressor. They silence critics ,they silence dialogues, they silence everyone. Charges of prejudice, bias, anti this and anti that. Arguments against one person or another. “THEY DON’T SPEAK FOR US! Like there was an elected committee who chooses how you get born and end up representing who you are as a person. An empowered , once oppressed community becomes something different when the oppression ends. The once pleading eyes become twisted with anger, once grateful hearts begin looking for someone to take out. It’s a maddening twist of human psychology.

The Transadvocate on occasion in the past has done really good work. They have stretched beyond a commentary to actual investigation that provokes at least a decent dialogue. The drive of getting to the truth overrides bias in a way that would make any person proud. This is not one of those moments. Professionalism gets replaced by popular bias, vendettas from the past get mixed with half truths ,petty arguments get spun into world shaking hate festivals. Not even the slightest attempt at neutrality is made.

The history of the Transadvocates attacks on Calpernia Addams are pretty well self documented. The last they had to mine from Calpernias site when another “hidden transgender “ advocate objected to one of Addams friends being on the board of Trans Kids. That is right, for being friends with Addams because she considered Addams “morally unfit” for having appeared as a singer in a gay music video. HOW HOMOPHOBIC IS THAT?! This advocate used their “donation” size to suggest removing Addams friends and the Transadvocate not only ran the story attacking Addams ,but provided a one sided online radio show where the donor and her friends sat and slagged Addams nonstop! If there was any way to set fire to your credibility, they could not have done it any better.

After a very public online tiff between Calpernia and a young Journalist named Parker Molloy happened, Marti Abernathy, the author of the previous hit piece on Addams gleefully authors another hit piece called “Open letter to Andrea James and Calpernia Addams”. Parker is a promising young writer who wrote some rather unfortunately really insulting and naive comments on Addams after she coached the actor playing “Rayon” in Dallas Buyers Club ( No, we don’t accept success in the community , we attack! ) . Addams wrote a response article making her upset clear and dismissing the obvious mistakes to Parkers being a newcomer. Parker attempts to make an apology publicly on Twitter “I understand you object to me calling you a drag queen” that reeks of staged performance and we are off to the races. Not from Addams or Molloy, from everyone else.

Now, it becomes a total cartoon .Marti Abernathy is running around faceboook calling Addams a drag queen ( that was her post “Yes, Calpernia Sarah Addams IS a drag queen!) Laughing out loud how a kid told Addams off. That was Marti’s premise, it was the act of the new generation telling the old generation off. It was as bitter and sad a conversation as it could be. With the Transadvocate now distorting the facts, Abernathy and crew using agism to propagandize this attack more successfully then last time spinning it into yet another article “Hatchet Job: A cruel attack on someone”. Ironic, isn’t it. You couldn’t write this stuff, no one would believe it. Adding to this a group go 300 women sign the most ridiculous petition ever . 10 points of nothing that leads to the real point of it, the section called “Our Aims”. This section calls for everyone to just not allow Addams to speak ever again. “She doesn’t speak for us”. Don’t be fooled , the 10 points were just to rationalize the need for censorship, while claiming to not be for censorship.

Just in case you didn’t get it girlies. Addams never did speak for you , she spoke for herself. All of us speak only for ourselves, including you because I sure didn’t ask you to speak for me. This person on Huffington sums up that concept perfectly.

“Odd though, the letter wants to say that Calpernia et al do not speak for Trans women, yet assumes that “they” do.”

There are things you do not know. Sad things I can not speak of. To ask the world for empathy and understanding and then display this kind of McCarthy like pettiness damages the cause you say you are for. I suggest you add my name to those to be censored. I don’t think there could be a better honor.

Oh and I don’t speak for the community, just myself.

Dee Omally

uh….are you ok?

Dee Omally

I admire your passsion……there’s nothing wrong with the word “drag queen” but outside of drag shows (which I think are great and lots of fun) and the LGB community it has no constructive purpose. Our community is LGBT not LGBD. Also promoting a word (TV) no matter the community, that historically has been used in malevolent ways (such as the she-*** word) and expecting no backlash is beyond stupid. I love Calpernia and James and Parker Malloy, but under no circumstances should they have resorted to juvenile behavior against Parker. The same applies to other trans persons if the shoe indeed fits. It is beyond obvious that given the choice of being trans advocates or entertainment advocates, they chose the latter and egregiously advocated for a gay drag queen (no offense intended) over the rest of us. This is beyond excuse.

Deena

I admit I am a ditz. I finally realized that this “letter” was authored by Zinnia Jones, Orlando-based atheist activist, parent, and video blogger. I have been impressed by Zinnia’s linguistic skills for a number of years. But I have to wonder why TA did not list Zinnia as the guest author when this was posted here.

VB

Calpernia Addams and Andrea James are a couple of low-life twits. Before they became celebrities, they exploited the trans community selling their useless “find your female voice tapes” from their Deep Stealth Productions company. Deep stealth… yeah… they know all about living stealth until the price is right.

I am laughing so hard right now. You do know the “red” means they are links, right? lol

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

When you finish your hysterical laughter and catch your breath you could tell us? 🙂

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Go ahead Dana Taylor, why are they links ?

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Yeah so much so they built one of the largest information resources on the web for transwomen and for the longest time one of the best forums. I have some of those video’s and you haven’t a clue what you are talking about.

“DarlieB (@DarlieB) says:
April 16, 2014 at 4:45 pm
No actually I haven’t, and I wouldn’t ignore it. Not by anyone so freel fee to educate me by naming the people doing it Kathy.”
=========================

Extend yourself a little. It’s a trivial start – but why not google some of the terms being used like transbian and pretendbian – see where they lead you.

She if you think you think actions like outing minors, targeting trans kids and raising funds for right wing hate groups that target trans kids are the kinds of things worthy of associating oneself with.

And ask yourself – human beings each having the same potential for good and evil – how is it even possible that some trans people could be homophobic – but you can suggest no gay people are transphobic?

Doesn’t that sound the slightest bit odd? And that trans people are never subject to homophobia? Is there any other group that isn’t? How can we be so blessed? We certainly seem to consistently miss the lottery in most other spheres.

And – must this really be pointed out? How many trans woman had the last thing the heard in life be a gay slur? This is trans people literally being attacked for being gay.

When others bring up a trans woman’s sexual orientation as somehow probative towards their value and the value of their arguments and also uses the language of those noted above – someone as brilliant as has been noted here – it’s not accidental. It’s at the very least “unfortunate” and perhaps even somewhat understandable in a heated personal argument to say the least. In a “mistakes were made” sort of way. But, who hasn’t lost their temper when they felt attacked (rightly or wrongly) and when friends were involved?

But – time does go by. You gain perspective.

However, when you project that language onto a class of people – it’s beyond the pale. And you have amends to make. That is homophobia. Odd, considering that’s this is also the charge being made as regards gay men.

It should be easier to see among ones own.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Googled.

“transbian
A contraction of the phrase “transsexual lesbian”. A transbian is a male-to-female transsexual who is also a lesbian – ie. a transsexual woman who is sexually attracted to other women.”

And . . . . . , what ? ( The other word issue I have no knowledge of) Im not sure what is offensive about this. Most of us call ourselves “transwomen”.

“And ask yourself – human beings each having the same potential for good and evil – how is it even possible that some trans people could be homophobic – but you can suggest no gay people are transphobic? -”

Well, it’s a untrue , I never said that so commenting on it is hard. You might actually read what I wrote Kathy . I never said no gay were transphobic, in fact I said some were. What you are mistaking comments on the DR show and what I said in terms of Ru Paul talking to Drag Queens , that is acceptable to me because its not directed at my community.

“Doesn’t that sound the slightest bit odd?”

Only because it is not true. I never said that. Sorry.

“However, when you project that language onto a class of people – it’s beyond the pale. And you have amends to make. ”

But it’s not directed at this community if you are talking about Ru Paul . It is directed at theirs. This is going back and forth between issues inside and out . Myself I find nothing offensive in the word transbian. Nothing. By the way I believe James is a “transbian”.

I asked specifically , name the people doing it Kathy. You have not yet named who you are talking about. It’s hard to talk in generalities.

Joelle Hart

Kathy Brennan. That’s who “Kathy” refers to. Google “pretendbian” and see whether it gets you to her site (if you see a giant black axe, that’s it)

Jordan Gwendolyn Davis

Sick of hearing about transwomen being hostile towards those who are younger and accusing us of having male privilege. My male privilege was forfeited when I transitioned.

The only name on that list that surprises me is # 231, Aleshia Brevard. I suspect Woody Allen, Dean Martin and a few others might also be shaking their heads. Who authored this “guest editorial” anyway? It reads like an umbrella troll. Is someone afraid to put their name to it or was it a group think?

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

“The call for the silencing of opposing views in this article is troublesome and raises a red flag. If one can’t make a persuasive argument against an opposing view without calling for their silence, perhaps one doesn’t have much of an argument at all. Put your swords away people. State your case then move on. Silencing opponents is NOT the way to go because it requires rejection of your argument, even if valid. Any argument against Addams and James will now need to be made by someone else.”-Huffington Blogger

“We are a homophobic community in many ways as there are many transphobic gays. That is just a fact.”

I’ll agree that it’s a fact that denigrating women based upon their sexual orientation is by definition homophobic.

Dee Omally

I know it sounds crazy DarlieB, but what is meant here is that not even “cis” women look like “women” quite often. Females are far from the petite, narrow-waisted stereotype that is considered as the norm. Female voices range in timbre and pitch as well. In short, many women are androgynous in appearance, by choice.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

I think it goes way farther than that Kathy. Within the community the “aniti LG ” movement is thriving quite nicely at the same time as over half being “gay”. Ive never seen any transperson attacked for being gay and I say that as someone who is bi.

1. Absence of good-faith arguments
The community is full of political ,sexual ,gender bigotry. Is reeks of transsexual only , ageism, homophobic bigots. What James said is nothing new and unlike most who don’t really work with the community , she sees it.

2.Misleading personal attacks
It was Parker who slagged Calpernia, not the reverse. Classing Addams as “one of those” transsexuals was a personal attack far greater than the “drag queen” comment. Addams just responded as publicly. Sorry the media offers equality.

3. Traditionalism and ageism
A straw man argument meant to intentionally enflame. Parker is a newcomer, Addams said nothing about young transwomen.

4. Misgendering and accusations of “privilege”
False accusation. Addams mistook the utter snobbism of the article and saw it as “lingering ‘cis-het privilege.” An easy mistake to make. These kinds of arguments are rampant in the community.

5. False hierarchies of trans women
Oh please, the difference between “now and then” is obvious to everyone, from insurance paid SRS, income tax deductions, school bathroom polices, societies incredible acceptance. Jumping between what James says and trying to make it part of what Addams says. The lumping of James and Addams together in this hit piece only betrays the same hypocritical stereotyping.

6. Hypocrisy and feigned offense
If you don’t know what drag is, don’t comment on it. Take offense all you want, it makes it no more historically true.Drag is done by men. Get over it.

7. Siding with mainstream prejudice
Among the “drag queen” community there are TONS of self depreciating terms thrown around. These are much like black people calling themselves the “n” word. They remove its power by owning it.

8. Disingenuous conflation of “transgender” with drag
Transgender is an umbrella term , drag queens are included. Sorry.

9. Hiding behind “homophobia” to defend transphobia
We are a homophobic community in many ways as there are many transphobic gays. That is just a fact. None of what Ru said was transphobic as all the contestants were MEN DOING DRAG! By the way, the gay community is also homophobic, being insulted by “feminine” gays representing the community.

Yes, yes, you’ve posted your “Calpernia and Andrea can do no wrong and it was just a parody and Parker is way worse anyway and by the way did I mention I’m totally neutral and you all are escalating hatred” screeds on every single post on the topic you can find. No one’s buying it, sorry.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Oh BS ! Everyone does wrong Addams , James and Parker. I don’t even want to discuss Parker at all but this kind of faux outrage requires a response. There is no balance this at all, calling for censoring one party in ab argument that clearly involves all parties mistakes.

Buy whatever you want ! I could care less! You are an anonymous nothing to me.

Sassafras

You clearly care deeply about what us anonymous nothings think, because you absolutely can’t stand anyone speaking negatively of your two heroines, and have to post on everything that disagrees with them. And you keep claiming that you’re neutral and there’s a balance but it’s only one side that you criticize, and interestingly, it’s the side that apologized and tried to make amends. The side that attacked a whole wide swath of the trans community as collateral damage, no, THOSE we have to just shut up and accept.

Oh I can stand it, doesn’t mean I have to be silent though. I never called them heroines but having spent years on a forum for transwomen Addams paid for herself I have a lot more respect her commitment than I do for most. Any respect I have for them is earned.

“you keep claiming that you’re neutral”

I am responding because the article is one sided And it is . I never claimed neutrality.

“it’s the side that apologized and tried to make amends. ”

For what ? The “drag queen” comment? What about the rest of the insulting , bigoted article ? You want me to go on ?

“we have to just shut up and accept.”

Lol! Like any of you have “shut up”. Say what you want, just expect a response. If people wrote to have everyone agree with them writing would be pointless.

Sassafras

“For what ? The “drag queen” comment? What about the rest of the insulting , bigoted article ? You want me to go on ?”

Yes, actually, do go on. I read the article and aside from the drag queen comment it was well-measured and tackled the topic of trans underrepresentation just fine. I didn’t see anything insulting or bigoted and I’m interested to see what parts you’ll try to twist as being as bad as “skin-transvestite”, “newly-minted queer”, and “Gumbing out”. It should be amusing in a heart-breaking way.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

“I read the article and aside from the drag queen comment it was well-measured and tackled the topic of trans underrepresentation just fine – ”

“Addams, herself, represents a very specific type of trans woman”

Bigoted stereotyping.

“”There’s nothing wrong with individuals like Addams, just as there isn’t anything wrong with “the Rayons of the world.”

Bigoted stereotyping. “There is nothing wrong with that class of people, they just don’t represent my milieu”.

“What is wrong is that transgender individuals — specifically transgender women — are almost always portrayed as this particular type of trans woman.”

“ Borten and Wallack interviewed a number of transgendered activists and doctors who faced similar struggles with access to drugs during the course of their writing, and they created composites of those people for the film.”

“But I ask you to really think: when was the last time anyone saw a transgender woman portrayed on-screen as a T-shirt and jeans-wearing, makeup-free accountant? Or how about as an advertising executive, or maybe a doctor? “

When was the last time you saw a ” a transgender woman portrayed on-screen as a T-shirt and jeans-wearing, makeup-free accountant” dying of AIDS ? Rayons exist. They don’t work as accountants. The call for this to be PCed into some happy politically correct exposure of a representation of all transwomen is i at best NIAVE! In reality impossible!

“Because the media portrays trans women in this very specific way,”

The was film based on the truth. Rayon could not be rewritten because Parker was uncomfortable with Rayons image any more than straight heteros who were uncomfortable with Ron Woodroofs could. IT WAS WRITTEN FROM REALITY! !

“some are the world’s Rayons, but most of us are not.”

You think this is fine?! Amazing! Is there diversity among the transgender? YES! But this film was never intended to represent all transgender women and you or anyone else trying to portray it as such is lying! You want the narrative to change ?! YOU DO IT! Or Parker do it, one of the writers do it but trying to place the blame for a factual portrayal on someone coaching an actor?! It’s absurd nonsense in a way that is utterly embarrassing. Addams had no ore control of that character than you are I and Parker or anyone else trying to fudge it into “Leave it to Beaver” is insulting to all the women who died trying to survive the street,

Yeah, pointing out that a rich showgirl in Hollywood does not represent the vast variety of trans people is not bigoted stereotyping, it’s FACT. Bigoted stereotyping would be saying stuff like, for example, “Rayons exist. They don’t work as accountants.”

“The was film based on the truth. Rayon could not be rewritten because Parker was uncomfortable with Rayons image any more than straight heteros who were uncomfortable with Ron Woodroofs could. IT WAS WRITTEN FROM REALITY! !”

Wow, just wow. Darlie, Rayon was a fictional character who was NOT based on a real person. There was absolutely no reality-based constraint on how to write her. And real Woodruff was also not the super-macho queer-hatin’ ass from the movie, that was created for conflict. Your answer is embarrassing.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

“Yeah, pointing out that a rich showgirl in Hollywood does not represent the vast variety of trans people is not bigoted stereotyping, it’s FACT.”

She is not rich and that is not what Parker meant. Oops your classism is showing.

“Bigoted stereotyping would be saying stuff like, for example, “Rayons exist. They don’t work as accountants.”

You are insane. At the time Woodruff got AIDs it was 1986 and it was a composite that was put together from known victims. Rayon did exist. And she didn’t work as an accountant. Provide, a press clipping showing there were transsexual accountants in 1986.
“Wow, just wow. Darlie, Rayon was a fictional character who was NOT based on a real person. “

It was based on real people. I said repeatedly as did the writers it was a composite of known people.

“There was absolutely no reality-based constraint on how to write her. And real Woodruff was also not the super-macho queer-hatin’ ass from the movie, that was created for conflict. Your answer is embarrassing. “

“During Borten’s ( the writer) three days of interviews with him, Woodroof introduced another woman as a girlfriend, repeatedly said homophobic and racist things, and made repeated and graphic references to anal sex with women, according to the press agent.|“

“When asked if Ron was homphobicBorten responded:
“Yes homophobic—yes, his arc is real yet told in a dramatic way for the film and conveyed through his relationship through Rayon which is a composite character. Yes, the [Dallas club] and his diagnosis changed him.|
“”

. No, it wasn’t created for conflict, the writer was true to who he thought Woodruff was. Nor was Rayon. Anything else ? Frankly , the homophobia was not what I meant because Woodruff was not straight. He was by accounts bisexual by the way. Please, go on telling me whats embarrassing 🙂

“Provide, a press clipping showing there were transsexual accountants in 1986 ”

Are you fucking kidding me? You’re calling people insane and bigoted but you’re literally asking for proof that transsexual people had accountant jobs in the 80s? You actually think we were all Rayon in the 80s? How old are you? I lived through the fucking 80s and even as a teenager I knew transsexual people could have normal jobs.

I’m done with you Darlie. You do not argue in good faith and you’re willing to insult all trans people in your white knighting efforts.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Nope.

“You’re calling people insane”

Just you.

“You asking for proof that transsexual people had accountant jobs in the 80s? “

No, I asked for proof one was working as an accountants in 86 in Texas. You want an authentic character right? You need to base it on something real. That was the entire point of the article right ?

“You actually think we were all Rayon in the 80s? “

Straw man. I never said that, ever.

“How old are you? “

What size hat do you wear ? 🙂 None of your business.

“I lived through the fucking 80s and even as a teenager I knew transsexual people could have normal jobs. “

Then is should be easy,.Never said they couldn’t. Asked you for proof they did in 1986 Texas. Should be tons, you “lived through the fucking 80’s”. Name a transsexual accountant because in Texas, I have this feeling their weren’t any. Just a , a wild guess.

“I’m done with you Darlie.”

Oakee Dokee!

“You do not argue in good faith and you’re willing to insult all trans people in your white knighting efforts.”

See, I have this problem with lynch mobs. The over the top ,half thought out rhetoric used to impugn one person or the other. That was not Parkers best article. She wandered into bad place. Is Parker evil ? Not at all. No, of course not. No one said she was. She has many more to write and lots of pitfalls ahead. Could Addams have taken another tact ? Maybe. Given the dismissiveness of the article I understand why Addams responded that way she did. The thing I liked most about what she wrote was her understanding that she has made many mistakes.

Most telling, the fact you thought she was rich. . Sorry, I don’t sign group letters that are so poorly worded and so poorly thought out. Down the road, this will be one of the lowest points in the trans communities history. IMHO

friday jones

So can blackface performers really “reclaim” the N Word? Or are they just being racist a-holes when they sling it around? Same deal with drag performers and the words tr***y and sh**ale. There is no wig huge enough nor makeup thick enough to make that OK.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

“So can blackface performers really “reclaim” the N Word? ”

OOoooook, that makes no sense whatsoever. You mean can white people, wearing black face, reclaim the N word ? Lol! Sorry, that is pretty out there.

Depends who the term is used for. If draq queens want to call themselves that for fun , who cares?! Use it on yourself ! I’m not offended by either. Sorry. I’ve been called worse by members of the “community”.

You just need to accept that it’s part of their cultural heritage to be dicks. Like it’s part of others to be antisemitic.

Apparently – there’s nothing that can be done for it.

And, one supposes, the whole enterprise would have to end if they chose to stop being transphobic and misogynistic. The whole enterprise must depend upon afflicting the afflicted to comfort the comfortable. (apologies to Mother Jones)

Just like blackface. See what happened? After Jolson – Not a single white jazz artist left in the entire world.

friday jones

O RLY? It “makes no sense” to you that people who are not black but wear blackface as public performance are similar in ethics to people who are not women but wear womanface as public performance? You are a gaslighting POS, you know that?

no one of consequence

Have the people who signed this tacitly endorsed Ms Molloy’s initial derision of Ms Addams that triggered this whole rotten thing? What about her retweeting of a bunch of abusive and nasty personal attacks directed at Ms Addams after the Addams reply was published? As far as I’m concerned, at this point both sides have been wronged, and both sides have behaved badly, and both sides deserve criticism, so I find this completely one sided condemnation disappointing.

Sassafras

No, they have not tacitly endorsed anything. You don’t have to think Parker is a perfect angel to think what Addams and James did was wrong and hurt a whole lot of other women.

Besides which, Parker profusely apologized and resolved to be more careful in the future, which is exactly what we would hope someone that says something offensive WOULD do. Also, with many high-profile drag queens such as Carmen Carrera and Monica Beverly-Hillz coming out as transgender, it’s pretty easy to understand how someone could think that a woman that has hosted and performed at drag shows for decades could be a drag queen AND a woman. And Addams and James aren’t speaking against RuPaul, whose flat out said that trans women are drag queens that got surgery.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Yes they actually have endorsed stereotyping and agism . Parker basically said Calpernia was “that kind of transsexual”. The drag queen insult was on top of the rest of the insults. Now I think it was intentional.

Parker had the chance to solve this and intentionally chose to escalate it. I no longer see her as innocent and this kind of list is just an example of petty politics no less intentionally bigoted, sexist, an act of ageism. Marti said to me that she saw it as a “new generation telling her off”. That pretty much tells you the thought behind all this fourth attack.

Sassafras

Yes, Darlie, now it’s “ageism” despite many of the signatories being older than Addams and James. Before this it was “just a parody” and “why can’t everyone just get along”. Keep throwing BS, eventually maybe something will stick.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Being older doesn’t make you less ageist , some fantasy rule you made up ? James apology response was a “parody” . Im not sure how that changes in your fantasy world.

Sassafras

Acting as if parody means it can’t also be mean-spirited and hateful is the fantasy.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

Im not saying it wasn’t mean spirited.

newly minted

I think I’ll go with the ‘side’ that didn’t tell early transitioners to take the abuse because RuPaul has been around for a long time and that makes it okay.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

It’s utterly embarrassing ! You might as well said “we are sexist bigots into ageism and gossip”.

I’m pushing 60 and have to ask, are you referring to both groups? Or is ageism only able to be directed towards one end of the spectrum?

And yes – please do call out the guy who has a megaphone here. You do seem to let him off the hook.

How about a clear statement?

friday jones

It was Addams who brought ageism into this with her comments about Molloy’s age somehow making her new to transitioning topics. Well, I transitioned in 1982, and I first heard of Addams MUCH LATER when she billed herself as a drag queen in my own local San Franciski. Addams WAS a drag queen, that’s incontrovertible fact. So how did that somehow become a great insult to her? Oh yeah, because then she billed herself as a famous transsexual, a true fact which apparently also was considered an insult when uttered by Molloy for some reason.

Darlie, you are full of crapola. That’s pretty obvious to everybody but you apparently. From your sophomoric references to the Rhetorical Fallacies to your absolute lack of good faith in argument, you are the poster child for crap-level Internet arguification.

DarlieB (@DarlieB)

“It was Addams who brought ageism into this”

“We should give newbies a chance to find their footing (Lord knows I said some stupid things in my early days)” C-alpernia Addams

No, she pointed out Parkers inexperience in that community while recognizing her own starting out /

“When she billed herself as a drag queen in my own local San Franciski. Addams WAS a drag queen, that’s incontrovertible fact.”

I doubt “she” did but that would be pre transition and 30 years ago. She hasn’t for a long time.

“which apparently also was considered an insult when uttered by Molloy for some reason. “-

The article is full of bigoted stereotypes. Please just pick one and try and use a long ago transition to try and validate it.

“Darlie, you are full of crapola”

Yawn. “Friday”

friday jones

Hey stupid: That was FIFTEEN years ago when Calpernia Addams was a regular performer in the SF drag scene. And then she called herself “America’s Transsexual Sweetheart” a few years later. And now all of a sudden it’s a terrible insult to call her a drag queen OR a transsexual? Both things she’s called herself?

As for the ageist complaint, that was YOU complaining that MOLLOY was ageist, even though Addams was actually the one who brought their relative ages into the argument. I guess if you’re terrible at formulating arguments, it helps for you to argue on both sides of a topic. The important thing for you is making sure that you tell everybody that SOMEBODY IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET!